i cannot believe the media in this town..and you wonder why NOBODY wants to sign here!! if i were a player i would say get lost to bob gainey and the french media. i bet the guy putting this together was all into it, ON VAS METRE DU FEU PARCE QUE CA VAS BRULER CE SOIR!

Well it’s easy to blame the french medias but The Gazette love – too much – our hockey team too hehe. And it’s worst in the Laffland. And btw i would prefer to play in a hockey town where the medias freak about my team and where the arena is always full (see Montréal or Toronto) than in a town where the arena is always empty day after day and no one care about your team and your winning (or losing).

But yeah the things about Brière is really stupid i think. He choose the broad street bullies, it is his choice, get over it.

I don’t boo players for their skill…I just have to much respect for the elite players.

BUT:

I’d simply boo Briere because of the first game last season where he talked his way out of a penalty (still no clue how he did that) and then went on to score a goal seconds later. The game went to OT, we loose and miss out the one point that would’ve put us in the playoffs!

Hey, is was his choice so yes, get over it. People cannot decide where a player wants to go and play so we should just lay off him. We have to win the next 2 or 3 because we have a 4 game road trip after Monday and we have to get some points. A lot of the upcoming games are against division rivals so we have to bring our A game. On a side note, I have not responded as often as I would like because I have been busy watching the baseball playoffs. I am happy one of my favourite sports teams are successful and a perennial contender like the Boston Red Sox. I love the Red Sox and was so happy they won the world series. I have always been a Red Sox fan and wish the Canadiens can follow Boston’s example! Go Sox!

He is from montreal, and he sale is soul to united states. He just dont have enough guts to fill the shoes (skate !) Brisebois is now my hero ( not as a player but as someone who belong to his country ! )

He didn’t turn his back on anyone… it’s a global game now, and we have no idea for sure what the deal he was offered was… and talking about his wife and family like that for nothing… thats just horrible man… lighten up, its hockey~

He’s a great player, I met him this summer at my local rink…

That all being said… GO HABS GO! Biron will crumble tonight, Huet will get it done at home!

You people are idiots! a player has a right to play where ever he chooses He owes NOTHING TO QUEBEC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It has nothing to do with language, or where he grew up. If a player is born in BC, and chooses not to play for the Canucks, do you think the city of Vancouver would crucify them? Do you think they would boo him? Grow up people! I wish the moronic politicians in this province would get a life! THE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND QUEBEC!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If french Quebecers would ever take a walk outside this province, they would realize that there’s a whole world outside of Quebec, and NOBODY CARES ABOUT QUEBEC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He owes his seed to the nation, damnit. Once the nation raises you, there’s no getting away. Do you realize how much money the Quebec government spends on raising children? These kids belong to the nation.

What could possibly go wrong with this kind of thinking? Nationalism has always been a force for good and for tolerance throughout the world.

[sarcasm off]

It’s the 21st century, comrades, and “the nation” doesn’t give anything to anyone that individuals haven’t paid for via tax deductions to their earnings. Saku Koivu has paid more net money to the Quebec government than Pauline Marois, and probably the entire PQ caucus combined.

#5 sounds like a death threat, and could certainly be reasonably construed as such. It should probably be removed, as I’m not sure the author intended to make it death threat in public.

Well i just watched the Pauline Marois’ speech about the Montreal Canadiens and she didnt talk about Koivu. I can traduce what she said by : the organization of the Montréal Canadiens should put some efforts to help players to learn english, and she said that because a journalist asked her about the Bertrand’s speech. So stop flaming politicians and keep your calm. Btw chevy4CH your speech about Québec is as much ridiculous as what your speech about hockey.

And btw Gainey, Dryden, Robinson, they all learned French and they speak it very well. This is a question of respect.

Hey Charles 336: Or should I say charles SEPARATIST; I doubt that you’ve ever stepped 1 foot outside Quebec. Because if you had, you would know how truly ridiculous you sound, just like a PQ separatist, which I KNOW YOU ARE!!
So, go back to your poutine and patate frite, Mr. Pepper.
and here’s a joke for all you french canadians.
Do you know why we call french canadians, pepsi’s? BECAUSE THEY’RE EMPTY FROM THE NECK UP!!!!!!!!! And it’s true! HAHAHAHAHAHA

politics and language NEVER NEVER NEVER belong on this website, and NEVER have ANYTHING TO DO WITH SPORTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, STOP THE FRENCH SEPARATIST TALK OR I’LL LAMBASTE YOU FOR GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am english and this MY COUNTRY! And remember, the MAJORITY OF CANADA IS ENGLISH, NOT FRENCH! AND THE LAST TIME I LOOKED, WE’RE ALL LIVING IN
C A N A D A!

Booya! Well put chevy. I moved from quebec to alberta and listening to sports talk this morning i was infuriated to hear all about this crap. You wonder why EVERYBODY outside quebec HATES quebec! It’s f’n ridiculous, my family left that province in part due to the hatred directed at all non french citizens. Now it’s part of our beloved Habs. Seperatists are an embarresment to that beautiful province and I for one have been very protective of quebec while living in alberta, but I’m starting to agree with the rest of Canada, quebec is ass-backwards. Get out while you can anglophones. BTW go habs go.

Quebec is a fine province, and all provinces have their wing-nuts–not least of which Alberta, incidentally, where a few of us live. It is obviously totally ridiculous to paint an entire province by the behavior of their politicians. And incidentally, the PQ is not even in power in Quebec, and even when they were, they only rarely won more votes than the Liberals.

All of this is to say that we ought not paint the province in such black and white language. And I would add that this country belongs as much to any Quebecker as it does to any other Canadian.

The main problem in the Koivu flap is that this isn’t about respect. Yes, it would be courteous for Koivu to have gone out and learned to speak French. It would have reflected well on him. But it’s his choice. And it’s certainly not for politicians to use the pulpit of political office to criticize private individuals for their choice of language. Making French signs mandatory is one thing, putting soft pressure on people to speak French is an altogether different problem. The guy is the captain of the Canadiens, contributes his time and money to Quebec charities, and has inspired millions of people–inside and outside Quebec–who have been inflicted with cancer. Marois and the rest of the PQ, not to mention most of us, don’t belong in Saku’s league–literally and figuratively.

Very well put groundworking… I’m a bilingual (born in Quebec) French Canadian living in Ontario and I get disgusted regarding these language issues. We should be coming together to talk about the Canadiens, not political bullshit.I’m very well aware of both sides of the story politically, and frankly it’s a question of respect.

By the way, not ALL Quebecers, or former Quebecers agree with many of the above comments, so NO STEREOTYPING! Let’s ALL join hands, join the common cause, Vive LE CANADA, and watch LES CANADIENS en route to the Stanley Cup! Go Habs Go! (How’s THAT for Franglais? LOL)

I agree completely Jessef. And the guy is a hockey player–it’s not like in politics or the papacy, where we expect people to speak several languages. I sympathize with most of the Quebec language laws. There are many people in Quebec who couldn’t get by in their native language for decades because the language of business in Quebec was English, and English people refused to speak French even when serving French customers. So the signs and the mandatory education and all that stuff was fine with me. But the fact of the matter is that the Canadiens have the classiest captain in the game–he’s what, 5’10 maybe, and he never backs down in the corners. And after everything he’s done for Quebec, he deserves to be able to speak whatever language he’s most comfortable speaking. But this isn’t a “Quebec thing”, it’s a parochial political party in Quebec thing who like to stir up inter-ethnic animosity to give themselves a boost in the polls.

Mark my words: he’ll learn French and start speaking it, and by doing so, he’ll outclass his critics by such a considerable margin that it won’t even be mentioned. We need to be careful in the rest of the country not to over-react to this kind of stupidity: that’s what the party banks on. They say something stupid, English Canadians get mad and say stupid stuff, and then even reasonable Quebecers start thinking about voting for these clowns.

DeeWave, he wasn’t born in Montreal…born and raised in Gatineau. So he speaks french, there are plenty of other players that I’d take over him.

Charles336, Gainey, Dryden, Robinson didn’t have to learn English first. Koivu only spoke Finnish when he got here so he had to learn English first because that is the language that most of the NHL speaks

Very well said for the mostpart, but I disagree that this isn’t a Quebec thing… this is a Quebec law, and a horrible one… if its a law in the province, than the province is responsible…not just the PQ

Canada does have a Quebec problem, but thats nothing new… Canada day in Quebec is always a ghost town, they feel no need to celebrate Canada’s birthday, but St Jean baptiste (whatever the holiday is for??) is Quebec’s day… All of this talk about Briere owing his seed and the cost to raise a child… that’s a borderline insane way of thinking, sounds like old Russia and not letting people leave or choose where they play sports… Where would the NHL be if every player had to come from their own province or country? True, the Habs would be awesome (lol); but no professional league works that way…

Very Happy with the Habs play last night, Huet was already in the dressing room for the last goal though I think…lol

It’s funny watching children post on these websites. Their immaturity is almost inspirational. Typing with a broken CAPS LOCK is priceless, and even attempts at bigotry fall far short of the mark.

How can you say you love the Habs when they are from, well, Montréal? Forget the rich history of the team, but doesn’t it make your skin crawl that the Habs enjoy the support of “pepsi’s” (BTW, I’m and English Canadian, born and raised in Ontario, and NO ONE calls our French Canadian brothers and sisters “pepsi’s” It sounds like a schoolyard term to me…). Les Habitants (OMG…French) have their roots deeply grounded in the French Canadian culture. There’s a short animation by Roch Carrier that you should check out when your parents start letting you out to the library on your own. It’s called “The Hockey Sweater” and it might enlighten you a bit. A quote from this original book is actually on our 5 dollar bill.

As far as Brière goes, he publicly stated that he wanted to come to Montréal. Then the fans found out that he was offered as much money here, but chose to play in Philadelphia. I can’t say I blame the fans for booing. He’s from Quebec after all.

As far as Koivu, sure it’s a bit of a non issue. He’s not Mayor of Montréal and unable to speak to the people who elected him or anything. He’s just there to play hockey. To me, it’s more a matter of courtesy. If I was living for 10 years in, say, Morocco, I would have learned Arabic enough that I could communicate to everyone in their local language…but then again, that’s just me.

Halak wants to be traded, otherwise he said he’s going to play in the russian league. always some discontent on this team. last year Samsonov, and now Halak.
trade hime with Latendresse, PLEASE! Maybe we can finally get rid of Latendresse(who belongs in the minors with Grabovski) and bring up Lapierre. wouldn’t you people rather see Lapierre over Latendresse?

I’ve heard the same thing about Hallak wanting out. He wants to be #1 (or at least have the chance to) and there is no way that is happening here short of injury. Price (and Chipchura and Grabovski) have been told to get apparetments because they are here to stay. So unless we get a goaltender injury he won’t even get to play in the NHL in Montreal.

His agent and him think that he is better than playing for the juniors and want NHL action or they he will go to Russia. If thats the case then we may as well trade him and try to get a half decent prospect or pick in return.

I thought this was a hockey website? Not a website about different political views. I think we should all just stick to hockey and our beloved Habs. By the way, the Habs played an awesome game lastnight.
Go Habs Go

Well Mr. Big Sh3$^&*()t, oh , I mean Mr. Big Mouth: You stuck your foot in your big fu3$%^&*ken mouth again. But I guess I shouldn’t expect more from a know nothing classless moron. If you check the Gazette INSIDE OUT, you would know where my information came from. I never makeup any news, unless I have a reliable source. Try reading for a change, that is, if you’re capable of doing so, tho I highly doubt it!

Probably not as much nowadays with the salary cap–these things are measured in US dollars. The ownership of Canadian teams will make more money at the gate, but because of the cost sharing arrangement, net profits are transfered as cap room among all of the teams. So in a twisted way, the rise of the Canadian dollar might actually translate into LOWER profits for NHL teams as whole, thereby reducing expansion of the cap limit.

In any case, the Canadian dollar is up more against the US dollar than it is in any kind of absolute sense–the US dollar is crashing and that might not be so good for the NHL as a whole.

1) Holy shit, lay off Briere, will ya? Shit, have you ever been booed for turning down a job offer everytime you pass their building? Honest to God!

2) Who cares if Saku ever learns a lick of French. Let’s praise him for the effort he puts out night in and night out for this team. If he gets pushed out of town because he feels more comfortable speaking English than French, I will be pissed off something fierce! This subject is not a lack of respect on Saku’s part. It’s all about the insecurities of the people who choose to make it an issue.

wow, so much wasted talk about politics and language. briere this, and koivu that!!!! our team is kicking some serious ass right now and none of us can talk about positive shit!!!! give me a break. live in quebec or in alberta. who cares. you could live in russia for all i care. it’s about our team. the team we cheer for. the team we wait patiently to step on the ice every game. the team we wear our colors for. OUR TEAM!!!! how about koivu’s leadership skills. how many goals will kovalev score from the hash marks this year?? these are questions and comments that i am way more interested in. OUR TEAM has a huge game today against the (oooo i hate the name) leafs!!!! what are they gonna have to do to stay ahead of the ______. as far as i am concerned, if they play like they did against the flyers, they will be fine. it was a great game. everyone gave 110% effort. even gorges redeemed himself. Coming from kelowna that ment a lot to me!!!!! let’s go boys. chase down that first place spot in the east. true habs fans have nothing to complain about. we are doing great. let’s keep looking forward and forget about what’s behind us!!! GO HABS GO!!!!!!!

Well…here is another year and the Habs are well playing…above their heads and getting great goaltending…Is there the possibility of a tail-spin that eventually prevails on this campaign? I hope not…but really looking at the two losses…Carolina & Sens and the gifts to the Leafs and Thrashers and we have a very positive situation. Relying on the power play is not good and the 5-on-5 play is still not producing. But consider the many chances missed throughout any of the games…still missing that closer or finisher…a la Esposito…where do we find him? Higgins (so many chances, he’s getting better, I am depending on him to flourish!) or is it Latendresse! Tell him to stir up ‘sh%t’ in front of the net that what it’s going to take. Both Price and Huet are holding the fort well….and now that Halak has asked to be traded and Tampa feeling the pains of not winning…maybe the time has come to see what it would cost to snap up Lecavalier…the same thing opened up about four or five years and the Habs missed their chance…Ryder can be part of the bait….Let’s encourage Gainey to deliver even a block-buster trade…consider too Patrick Marleau…he’s not playing well and a change may be just what’s needed. and what a miss ‘Cammalleri’ was…should have put forward a huge offer….just another one gone by the way side. Happy with the current push…now make a stance and clobber the Leafs, show some grit and finish! Ryder would be a good time to get that scoring touch. Go Habs Go!!